Northern Foods was not willing to match the price Duke Street Capital paid for Burton's Foods, its new chief executive, Stefan Barden, admitted this week.

Northern Foods had been in the running to buy Burton's but dropped out of the auction in February. Duke Street tied up a deal for Burton's two weeks ago for a sum widely believed to be in the region of £200m.

Barden, who replaced Pat O'Driscoll two months ago, said he had no regrets about his company's failure to secure a deal for Burton's.

"I wasn't disappointed," he said. "We knew what price we would have to pay to win and felt Duke Street's price wasn't warranted. We're happy with our biscuits business as a standalone and don't need to merge with Burton's to make it a success."

Barden said Northern Foods, which recently raised £200m from selling several of its businesses, was on the lookout for further takeover opportunities, but ruled out any more disposals.

NPD would be at the heart of his strategy for growth, he said, claiming it had been neglected in the past. "They weren't thinking about how to make money from innovation. We needed to understand the value in it, and innovate accordingly."

New measures to evaluate NPD had been implemented, said Barden. "Every few weeks we sit down and look at if there's a clear point of difference, and if there isn't we stop the process. The idea is to save money on wasted opportunities."